QuoteProject
Marriage is good enough for the lower classes: they have facilities for desertion that are denied to us.
George Bernard Shaw
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Marriage offers certain advantages to the lower classes that are unavailable to the upper classes, including the ease of separation.

In this quote, George Bernard Shaw critiques the institution of marriage by highlighting the concept of social class and its implications on personal relationships. He suggests that for those in the lower classes, marriage can be more practical, as they may have easier paths to divorce compared to the complexities and expectations faced by the upper classes, who might be trapped by societal norms and obligations.

Themes

MarriageClassRelationshipsDesertionSocial Class

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about the evolving nature of relationships in society.

More from George Bernard Shaw

What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.
George Bernard ShawRead
Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature!
George Bernard ShawRead
Those who talk most about the blessings of marriage and the constancy of its vows are the very people who declare that if the chain were broken and the prisoners left free to choose, the whole social fabric would fly asunder. You cannot have the argument both ways. If the prisoner is happy, why lock him in? If he is not, why pretend that he is?
George Bernard ShawRead
Treat a friend as a person who may someday become your enemy; an enemy as a person who may someday become your friend.
George Bernard ShawRead
The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.
George Bernard ShawRead
I feel nothing but the accursed happiness I have dreaded all my life long: the happiness that comes as life goes, the happiness of yielding and dreaming instead of resisting and doing, the sweetness of the fruit that is going rotten.
George Bernard ShawRead

Similar quotes

If you want to influence people, you want them to accept your suggestions, you don't say, 'You don't know how to use the English language,' or 'How could you make that argument?' It will be welcomed much more if you have a gentle touch than if you are aggressive.
Ruth Bader GinsburgRead
It occurred to Dr. Lecter in the moment that with all his knowledge and intrusion, he could never entirely predict her, or own her at all. He could feed the caterpillar, he could whisper through the chrysalis; what hatched out followed its own nature and was beyond him. He wondered if she had the .45 on her leg beneath the gown. Clarice Starling smiled at him then, the cabochons caught the firelight and the monster was lost in self-congratulation at his own exquisite taste and cunning.
Thomas HarrisRead
It was a strange thing, to still be in love with your wife and to not know if you liked her. What would happen when this was all over? Could you forgive someone if she hurt you and the people you love, if she truly believed she was only trying to help? I had filed for divorce, but that wasn't what I really wanted. What I really wanted was for all of us to go back two years, and start over. Had I ever really told her that?
Jodi PicoultRead
Many adult bullies hide behind the idea that bullying happens only among children. They conceive of themselves as adults who know better and are offering their hard-earned wisdom to others. The Internet makes that sort of certainty easier to attain: looking at their screens, adult bullies rarely see the impact of their words and actions.
Maria KonnikovaRead
You know someone is your favorite person when you've done a day of press, listened to yourself ad nauseam, listened to them tell every story, and when it ends, it's like, 'Are we going to eat something?'
Laura DernRead
Anxiety is love's greatest killer, because it is like the stranglehold of the drowning.
Anais NinRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by George Bernard Shaw | QuoteProject